China has set out its most detailed plan yet for landing astronauts on the Moon, aiming to put a crew on the lunar surface before 2030 using two rockets and a docking manoeuvre in lunar orbit.
Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China’s human spaceflight programme and chief designer of its lunar programme, presented the plan in Beijing on 31 October at the 7th Manned Space Symposium, according to reports of the event.
The mission uses two Long March 10 rockets, both launching from the Wenchang site on Hainan island. One carries the Lanyue lunar lander and the other carries the Mengzhou crew spacecraft with three astronauts aboard.
The two vehicles will meet and dock in orbit around the Moon. Two of the crew will transfer into Lanyue and descend to the surface, while the third stays aboard Mengzhou in lunar orbit.
On the surface, the landing crew will drive a small rover called Tansuo, collect samples and run experiments, before returning to Lanyue, lifting off and docking with Mengzhou for the trip home. Uncrewed test flights of the lander and a full uncrewed rehearsal are planned before any crew flies.
China has landed robotic spacecraft on the Moon before but has never landed astronauts there. A successful landing would make it only the second country, after the United States, to put people on the lunar surface.
Source: Daily Galaxy
